After playing Exile’s Reach today on both alliance and horde I have come to the conclusion that it is embarassing to witness, especially as a new player. Here’s why.
Exile’s Reach is inconsistent with WoW’s overall tone. It is more in line with Hearthstone’s tone and story and the two games are vastly different in both genre and aesthetic. The story and the dialogues are 100% ripped straight out of some Saturday morning cartoon and it feels like a whole other game than what Shadowlands is supposed to be.
Speaking of other games, for the most part Exile’s Reach for me both looked and felt like Fortnite. While some visuals were nice, the field areas looked pretty much the same as fn, the gnome/goblin’s drone was absolutely something that you’d see on that game, the fire textures and even the cool-looking one-handed axe I was given seemed like they were ripped straight out of Fortnite.
It is very clear which demographic Blizzard targeted with Exile’s Reach and I’m pretty much disappointed by it.
So from a completely new player’s POV, WoW will probably be mistaken as a cartooney, Fortnite-y kind of game. WoW is a bit cartoony, but not in the sense that it feels like watching an actual cartoon.
When I offed that dragon I half expected him to yell “I would’ve done it if not for you meddling kids!”.
The whole affair felt goofy but it doesn’t stop there. You see, when you complete Exile’s Reach for the first time the game tells you to do everything from setting a hearthstone to talking to the guards to following that gnome/goblin, blah blah, which can be helpful but it could come off as controlling. Then you are led to start the BFA campaign, which will further damage WoW’s image to a newcomer.
Yes you can quit after the first quest of the BFA campaign and go to Chromie, but the new player doesn’t know that. We have to naturally assume they are a complete newbie.
Now I’m saying all this through the eyes of someone with around a decade worth of Warcraft experience so I think I can’t be too wrong when I say that Exile’s Reach, while possibly fun, does not feel like WoW.
I like Exile’s Reach, I think it’s a great experience for new players, it’s fast, fun and introduces you into some core mechanics of the game.
I think as a new player you can’t go to Chromie and choose any expansion you like, you have to complete first the BfA campaign. I’m not sure but I like that too. You want to introduce the new player to the current story. And I know BfA wasn’t the best but the leveling experience is not bad at all, it’s similar to WoD and Legion and the zones and stories are pretty good.
I enjoy this much more than the Valley of Trials into Barrens. Any leveling experience before WoD feels slow and boring for me. Yeah maybe sometime I want to level a char through Northrend or Outland for nostalgia, but if I want to level up fast and easy those are not an option.
“I’ve kidded myself into believing that world of warcraft was ever anything other then a hyper-stylized fantasy world involving cartoons and plot-lines that really don’t make sense when reflected on for more then a moment and having the non-player characters of the new exile’s reach zone actually speaking the type of dialogue that is ever present in wow out loud has coursed me to reflect on how serious world of warcraft actually is”
It’s a starting zone that is aimed at familiarizing new players with the game and giving them a generic view of the game. That is why it’s an alternative introduction path next to the racial zone starting areas and quests. In my opinion it’s well done. Not too complicated, not too long and visually pleasing. My only objection is to the fact that they don’t give you a complete set of armor for finishing it.
I like it. We often have fantastical adventures, but Exile’s Reach provides a questline with a simple fantasy quest: go and kill an undead dragon. Compared to the bombastic nature of most of WoW’s stuff, I consider it a relaxing change of pace.
Literally everyone i know said they like,its generally positive.So this topic is dumb and waste of time.Just unsub and stop crying ur all annoying as hell
“My friends like something so if you don’t agree you’re dumb”.
This is my opinion, whether you agree or disagree with it you are expected to behave yourself like a mature adult and respect it. If you’re not going to do that then piss off.